This invention relates to scratch-resistant finishes, strippable finishes, and methods for applying and for removing a finish.
UV curable coating compositions typically provide a desirable combination of properties including rapid cure, high gloss and good durability. Due to these properties and their generally good scratch and detergent resistance, UV curable coating compositions have been used as floor finishes. For example, UV curable urethane coating compositions have been factory-applied to solid wood flooring to provide a pre-finished flooring material. Manufacturers of such pre-finished flooring materials regard such factory-applied coatings as having superior abrasion resistance compared to finishes that could be applied at a jobsite to installed flooring materials.
UV curable coating compositions have also been jobsite-applied to installed flooring materials. When these jobsite-applied UV cured floor finishes show the effects of wear, they require removal and renewal. However, current commercially available jobsite-applied UV cured floor finishes are generally regarded as not being strippable from the flooring material. Instead, more aggressive removal techniques such as floor sanding may be employed, thereby leading to removal of a portion of the underlying floor surface and creating dust issues at the jobsite. This has discouraged the use of jobsite-applied UV cured floor finishes.
A jobsite-applied floor finish desirably should exhibit very good wear resistance, but should be strippable so that it can be removed when worn. Strippability is desirable because in time almost all flooring materials can become sufficiently worn or dulled in appearance to warrant renewal or refinishing of the top surface of the flooring material.
Some manufacturers of factory-applied floor finish compositions have added aluminum oxide particles to UV curable urethane coating compositions for the stated purpose of increasing the abrasion resistance of the wear layer. Some manufacturers of small particle inorganic fillers have recommended the inclusion of various kinds of small particle inorganic fillers in general-purpose UV cured finish materials in order, inter alia, to increase abrasion or scratch resistance of the cured finish. However, these small particle inorganic filler manufacturers have typically also said that the small particles will also increase the chemical resistance of the cured finish. If added to a jobsite-applied UV curable floor finish, such a small particle addition would be expected to make the finish even more difficult to strip once it becomes worn. Because chemical strippability is already a problem for such jobsite-applied finishes, addition of small particle inorganic fillers to jobsite-applied UV curable floor finishes would be contraindicated.
Copending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 09/560,170 filed Apr. 28, 2000, and Ser. No. 09/642,395 filed Aug. 18, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,024, describe strippable jobsite-applied UV curable floor finishes. We have found that the addition of inorganic filler particles to such finishes can provide a substantial increase in scratch resistance, without significantly decreasing (and in most cases actually increasing) strippability.
The present invention provides, in one aspect, a jobsite-applied floor finish atop a multipiece flooring material whose pieces have a top surface, a side surface or surfaces and gaps between pieces, the top surface being coated and at least the uppermost portion of the gaps being filled with a layer or layers of strippable cured finish composition comprising radiation cured polymer and sufficient inorganic filler particles to impart increased scratch resistance to the cured finish. The cured finish can be removed by applying to it an inhomogeneous stripper composition containing at least one polar solvent, allowing the stripper composition to contact the finish for sufficient time to soften the finish, and removing the softened finish from the flooring material by mopping, vacuuming, mild abrasion or other measures that do not remove substantial portions of the flooring material.
The present invention provides, in another aspect, a jobsite-applied finish atop a substrate material, wherein the finish comprises a strippable intermediate coating atop the substrate and a strip agent-permeable radiation cured coating atop the intermediate coating, the strip-agent permeable coating comprising sufficient inorganic filler particles to impart increased scratch resistance to the cured finish and being less strippable and more durable than the intermediate coating.
The present invention also provides a finish that can be factory-applied to flooring material pieces, thereby providing a factory-applied floor finish atop a multipiece flooring material whose pieces have a top surface coated with a layer or layers of a jobsite-strippable cured finish composition comprising a radiation cured coating comprising sufficient inorganic filler particles to impart increased scratch resistance to the finish.
The present invention also provides strippable radiation curable finish kits for jobsite application to flooring and other substrates, and methods for applying radiation curable finishes to flooring and other substrates.
The radiation curable finishes of the present invention exhibit scratch resistance comparable to that shown by a factory-applied finish (e.g., like the finish available on a so-called xe2x80x9cno wax floorxe2x80x9d), but remain strippable without damaging the underlying substrate.